Seventeen years after its launch amid the worldwide monetary disaster, the Lewes Pound, the UK’s final surviving native forex, has ceased circulation.
First issued in 2008 within the East Sussex city of Lewes, the forex turned a logo of independence and group resilience, created to help small companies and maintain cash circulating regionally. However the regular rise of playing cards and digital funds has lastly introduced the experiment to an finish.
The Lewes Pound was launched simply as Lehman Brothers, capturing the creativeness of the press and public. Organisers had hoped for 100 consumers and 25 collaborating companies; as an alternative, 400 folks purchased the primary run of 10,000 notes, and 75 retailers signed up. The quirky notes — together with a £21 denomination — featured figures equivalent to radical thinker Thomas Paine, who lived within the city.
Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Cities motion, which impressed the forex, recalled the launch evening on the Lewes Arms pub: “It was such a magical, superb night. It was stunning.”
Regardless of its appeal, some retailers admitted the scheme was cumbersome. Retailers wanted devoted until area, and residents who lived outdoors Lewes discovered it tough to spend. As money use declined — from half of UK transactions in 2009 to 1 / 4 by 2019 — enthusiasm waned.
David Skeet, who runs Lewes Flea Market, described the scheme as “a little bit bit haphazard”, however mentioned he favored the thought. Frances Sterry of Cheese Please mentioned it could have been “a type of gimmick”, however one which celebrated impartial enterprise.
Supporters level to the social influence of the Lewes Pound. A donate-a-drink initiative on the Lewes Depot cinema redirected funds to meals banks, giving households the means to purchase from native retailers. Susan Murray, former mayor and one of many scheme’s organisers, remembered a grandmother who used the forex to purchase her grandchildren Christmas books for the primary time.
“It simply appears like a yr of mourning,” Murray mentioned of the closure, shortly after the demise of her husband. “However the forex modified lives.”
The Lewes Pound was a part of a wave of UK native currencies together with the Totnes, Brixton and Bristol Kilos, impressed by Transition Cities and earlier schemes within the US and Canada. The motion even influenced Europe: after the Totnes Pound appeared within the 2015 French documentary Demain, dozens of French cities launched their very own currencies.
Hopkins mentioned the “rise of plastic” sealed the Lewes Pound’s destiny, however argued its rules stay important: “The factor about native currencies was they stayed in that place. Jeff Bezos couldn’t hoard Lewes Kilos.”
About £10,000 of remaining backing funds will now be donated to native organisations together with the Friday Meals Market and Lewes Local weather Hub.
Miles Jenner of Harvey’s Brewery, one of many first adopters, mirrored: “In Lewes there may be all the time a swirl of enthusiasm round something barely off the norm and makes us stand out as being completely different. I don’t assume any of us thought it might change the world, but it surely was one thing all people bought behind.”
For a lot of, the Lewes Pound’s legacy just isn’t in what it purchased, however in what it represented: satisfaction in place, resilience, and the ability of native communities to assume in another way.
